Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1887-02-02

AS Mrs. Brewster went back to the
soap and sand ard hepantry shelves,
she said aloud: "Well, like Mrs.
Poyser, in Adam Bede, I've had my
say. After all, perhaps I'd better not
have said it. 1t doesn't do any good,
and fear am falling into habit Of
snagging,' which [ despise in any wo-
man. But when folks feelings are
working bottled up as mine have been
go long, sometimes they will burst
open in spite of everything done to,
keep them down. Folks oftentimes
are brought into contingencies in life
that they've got to get out of or be
vanquished, and the only way to pay
off that mortgage is to take those city
boarders. ought not to have signed
of course. But Luman did talk
SO we'll about the mines, and every
thing looked SO clear. Poor fellow!
he did have hard time of it, and that
terrible mountain fever took such q
hold of him! There's a good deal of
luck and chance about that sort of
business anyway. l read in Miss Cor
nelia's magazine, last summer, astOry
about Gunnison County, where Luman
was. It told about an %, Be joyful
Creek and q Poverty Gulch,' lying
side by side, and man going out to
seek his fortune was just as likely to
go up one side as the other. How
could Luman tell, when there was no
guide-board to show him which was
which"
Luman Brewster looked at the mat-
ter of the mortgage from his stand
point in the barn much more favora-
bly,. He did wish Mary Ann wouldn't
worry so much about that mortgage.
II she would only wait awhile, things
would shape themselves and the snort
gage be paid, he felt sure. Not long
afterwards he heard his wife's voice
calling him in the pleasantest of tones.
Mary AIMS " tantrums had worked
themselves off, just as they always
did. "See, Luman," she said, as he
came near the house, "there's q robin
in the maple tree. It's the first robin
I've seen this spring, and brings good
luck" "Didn't / tell you it would
come out all right, Mary ANN"
''There's Hepsy Brookins! " exclaimed
Mrs. Brewster, st that moment. "The
very person [ want to see above all
others. Go out to the gate and hitch
her horse. Luman."
"Well, Hepsy, if ever was glad to
see anybody in my life, I'm glad to see
you," and the lady kissed the mild,
pleasant face of the young girl, as she
came up the garden walk. "You
haven't engaged anywhere for the
summer, have your" she asked. mo,
| hain't Mis- Paulding spoke to me
q spell ago about going there, but |
hain't give her no answer" "You
must promise to come to me again
this summer, Hepsy. I've decided to
take those city boarders this season."
"Why, Mis- Brewster, you was clean
beat out last fall, ard you said you'd
never take 'em again for no price," 81
was tired out and wilted down then,
Hepsy, but now I'm fresh again. Pm
going to send letter to New York to-
morrow morning" Mrs. Brewster
spoke with as great an enthusiasm
about taking the city boarders as if it
were as pleasant circumstance In
her life as her trim sister Mariette's
going to the sea.shore was in hers.
Busy weeks followed, and the time
came all too soon for the arrival of
the city boarders. The night before
they came Mrs. Brewster went to the
village store to get certain piece of
cretOnne to cover an old-fashloned
chair. After she had made her pur-
chase and gone out, q man in the store
spoke up: els it true that Mrs Brew
ster's going to take those city board
ers again? My vile said she was tuck
cred out last fall with 'em." eyes,"
replied the proprietor, who was weigh
ing out some tea, s'you know Brewster
has q mortgage on his place; put it on
when he went out to Colorado to the
mines. Old Tompkins has the mort
gage; he's an old skinfint, and will fore
close this fall"
"I'll wager that Mary Ann Brewster
VIII be too sharp for him. She'll find
q way out of that mortgage, unless
I'm very much mistaken. She's the
smartest woman [ know. If she'd
married q man half as smart as her.
self, they'd SKINNED the moon;" and
the last speaker turned toward the
old farmer who had just put his basket
of butter and eggs on the counter.
"Luman Brewster don't seem to have
no faculty for getting a living. He's
a visionary sort of man; good man,
too; nobody's fool, either. Luck
seems to go agin some folks allus"
AS the farmer finished speaking, a
little wiry man, the postmaster, add
ed: "He hasn't got any push to him.
Old Mrs. Brewster says the reason
Human never made out more, is be-
cause Mary Ann takes the reins in her
hands" "Waal, now, the other side
of the house look at the matter in
quite different light" spoke up the
tall, thin man, who kept helping him.
self to crackers out OF the barrel at
the further end of the store. ssThey
were all agin Mary AIMS marrying
Luman Brewster. She had q chance
to marry g. professor somewhere in
some great college, I've heard.' CHER
sister Marietta feathered her nest pref
ty well, ;" the sterekeeper added. "She
want half as likely as Mary Ann,
either, when they were girls; not to my
way of thinking"
"Mary Ann used to fall in with
humans schemes at first" rejoined